People are wondering that when AAP stands
for elections, whose votes will it cut?
Elections are won by buying of votes more
than ever before. This trend of purchasing votes is increasing, election by
election, by all parties. By 2019 elections, vote buying as well as religious
and caste voting will be at an unprecedented high. May be, because of the Anna
movement and heightened awakening in the populace, there is a window of
opportunity in the next 2014 elections for ethical politics. Missing this
opportunity will be terrible for India.
BJP calls AAP a B-team of Congress, while
Congressis call AAP as B-team of BJP. We must be doing something right to be
accused by both :). When Indira Gandhi was asked whether we leaned towards USA
or Russia, she said "neither, we stand firm". That is my answer to
these accusations. We believe that Congress in its 60 years of rule has
completely messed up the nation. While, there has been growth, the performance
has been much less than the potential of India. India has grown not because of
the government, but, in spite of it. We do not think that BJP is an alternative
or solution to Congress.
Status Quo can not be acceptable. The poor,
dispossessed, unequal and discriminated are facing the brunt of miseries that
can be set right by good governance. Changing players is not the solution; we
need to change the rules of the game. The present system does not have the
ability to make India a humane, caring and developed nation.
I call the Indian democracy model
Monarcracy - winning elections with democratic means, but once they get
elected, they become Kings and Queens. BJP is as corrupt as the Congress. When
Gadkari said that "We do their 4 works and they do our 4 works", it
became obvious that BJP, Cong and other parties are bhai-bhais. While, the naive
citizen may think that there is a ruling party and separate opposition parties,
we know now with experience, that all politicians work together in business.
They get elected probably as different parties, but once elected, they work
together for making money. The adage is
true "The closest friend of a politician is from the opposing party, while
his worst enemy is from his own party". I know of a major MLA candidate of
BJP who does compromise with the Congress MP of the area. He does not canvass
against the MP in his Vidhan Sabha area, and the MP ensures that a weak
opponent is pitted in the Vidhan Sabha election against the BJP candidate. That
is the kind of tie-ups that are prevalent between parties.
Congress revealed that it had collected
around Rs 2000 crores as official money for which they do not know the source.
These were cash received from people, which was less than Rs 20000 each for
which name, address and PAN is unavailable. This essentially means that cash or
unaccounted money was shown in this manner. BJP revealed around Rs 950 crores
in the same manner. That is the difference between the two. Congress has had
more opportunity, which is why they have a bigger amount.
There will be a good away swing of votes
from BJP towards AAP.
Generally, it is believed that the urban,
middle-class, educated people who have generally been voting for BJP might
shift to a more sensible and non-corrupt AAP. These voters have been the main
constituent of the anti-corruption movement and it is believed that they would
form the core of the voters of AAP. While it is true that these people who are
sick and tired of the present parties will vote for AAP, it is not all.
There are millions of voters who do not
have allegiance towards BJP because of its hard religious Hindutva agenda or
its agenda of Ram Mandir, Article 370 etc. These voters do not like that agenda
but still vote for it because it is less corrupt, with less nepotism, is more
development oriented and do not appreciate the appeasement policy of the
Congress. I used to be one of those voters.
These voters will now have an option for
voting for AAP. So, it would essentially vote for a clean party with an
excellent leader like Arvind Kejriwal, a party dedicated to fight against
corruption, transparency, accountability, participation, decentralization and
integrity. It can be rid of parties that are corrupt nor criminal.
But, the bigger swing is going to be from
the Congress.
A very large part of the Congress voters
are OBC, SC, ST, Dalits, Muslims, Christians (around 72%). For decades, they
have been frightened by Congress leaders. These leaders say that in BJP rule
there will be riots and it will be difficult for these communities to live. In 2009,
just few days before the Maharashtra assembly elections, Congress leaders
reached the madrasas, mosques and churches and told the priests that they it
was correct that congress was corrupt and that their Congress candidate was
bad. But.....the community had to choose between a bad, corrupt Congress where
at least they could live in peace or a communal party, where their life would
be in danger. Thus, out of lack of choice they vote for the Congress. Congress
gets votes because of TINA factor. TINA means "There is no
alternative".
Once, AAP comes in the fray, this 72%
voters who do not like BJP, will have a much better choice.
Besides this, there is a large voter base
(in some areas more than 40% voters) that do not vote because none of the
candidates excite them. A lack of good choice makes for low turnout. AAP can
give a good alternative and we believe that a large number of new voters or
voters who do not generally come out to vote, will. In a normal election, AAP
does not have much hope of winning. But, if there is a wind or wave of
patriotism close to the election, then voters will come out in large numbers
with India's flags and shouting "Bharat Mata ki Jai", apprehending
the vote buyers and propelling voters towards a new India.
